| OCR Text |
Show ,1 Tactics of X tb? Little MS Pagan? aod ibm i ill . H.ILi "mm in-nguQUOlI tho llttlo pagan god (FKN I who nearly alwnys ac-JL ac-JL I companies St. Valentino I on February 14 has tho jrynj same purpose wherever tpdSjA 9 ne Bes' yct n0 docs not ?!Hi everywhere employ tho fjl aarao methods for its ac-MfrSvfjl ac-MfrSvfjl compllshmcnt. His tac-Kffifffl tac-Kffifffl tics differ In different E5'"5?!Sm places. Ho Is as versatile as ho Is capricious. In Now York city he still finds a way to mylady's heart by going to her in a dainty bit of pasteboard, tissue paper, tinsel and paint, all tucked way in a scented envelope. In Uorlln ho has recently re-cently found a new means of wounding wound-ing his victims In tho "cooing postals," 'which aro so constructed that when . squeezed they will Intftnto tho plain- tlvo nce q( a dove. In moro prosaic fliOttdon fiupid has abandoned the postman post-man for tho telephono, and tho up-to-dato London lover no longer sends his sweetheart an ardent messago by letter, let-ter, but recites It over the wlro Into hor very car. Whothor or not ho discloses dis-closes his Identity depends on tho ro-ply ro-ply ho gets. - Yot tlio most picturesque St. Valentine Valen-tine day customs nro not to bo found In tho big cities, bdt In out-of-the- 'way regions, wliero human nature ro-tains ro-tains much of Us old-tlmo Bimpllcity. In sorno of tho rural villages of Eng-land, Eng-land, tor exnmplo, tho season Is ob-sorVed ob-sorVed In much tho samo way as In tho tlnio of Queen Elizabeth and many a quaint Bupersltlon still survives. In rcmoto villages of Dorbyshlr tho custom still prevails or maidens looking look-ing out of their windows In tho early morn of St. Valentino's day to learn who their lovers may bo. Every girl who wants to get married Is supposed to jump out of bed Just at daybreak and drosslng hastily open a wondow facing the street. Thoro sho must wait until sorno man passes by, who tips his hat nnd says to her: "Good, morrow, 'tis St. Valentino's day." In roply sho says: "Good morrow, sir, I'll bo your Valentino," As n usual thing, however, tho passerby Is not a stranger. A Derbyshire girl usually keeps tho shutters closed until through Bomo crovlco In them Bho espies tho man sho wants. Of all obsevvanccs, however, tho most popular In England Is that bubt known as "sweeping tho girls." It a girl Is not kissed by an ndmlrer be-foro be-foro nlno o'clock on St. Valentino's morning sho Is said to bo "dusty." Accordingly Ac-cordingly all tho young men of tho neighborhood on learning that sorno young woman has remained unklssod paBt tho fatal hour make an attack on her houso with brooms, and after sweeping her thoroughly, each of her callers kisses her. Tno French province of Lorralno has a custom somewhat1 similar, which Is called "beating tho ladles." It dates back to tho sixteenth century. On St. Valentino's morning every marriageable mar-riageable daughter Is expected to arise at daybreak and baka a heart-shaped cake for tho first young man who may como for it. If sho should oversleep, however, and her lover should call to find hor all unmindful of htm and tho occasion which brought him to her , door then his rivals are privileged to punish her In tho following fashion: Armed with wisps of hny they may In-vailo In-vailo her room and, compelling her to get up, they may administer a not especially es-pecially ungentlo thrashing. , In th.a county ot .Norfolk, England, , there still survives o custom which I recalls tho times when St. Valentine's day was observed throughout Great Britain and tho continent by the pr scntatlon ot substantial gifts. In this way not only lovers remembered their mistresses, but parents their children, huBband their wives, and In tho mOr-ry mOr-ry days of Charles II. husband gavo nresents to other men's wives. Among tho young women ot Devon-shlro Devon-shlro tho belief still lingers that they aro nblo to loam 'Cvho their futuro husbands hus-bands will bo If they go through a certain peculiar formula shortly nfur tho midnight that ushers In St. Valentino's Valen-tino's day. Each maiden should go nlono to tho porch of tho vlllago church nnd there wait until 12:30 a. m. Then as tho bell strikes the half hour sho should return homo scattering hempsced In hor path and repeating: "llempseed I sow, licmpsced I mow. Ho that will my ruu 'ove be. Come, rake this heinpseeil after me. And If sho is going to bo married In tho next year who will Indeed sao hor lover behind hor clad In a winding wind-ing sheet and raking up tho hempseed. In many parts of Germany tho children chil-dren find St. Valentino's day a special occasion to obtain charity from young women, who cannot refuao them without with-out being threatened with the fate of. becoming old maids. In certain villages vil-lages of Saxony llttlo boys nnd girls go from houso to houso singing a song which hns been translated as follows into English rhymo: 'Clod bless the baker, If you'll be the River, i I'll be the taker." |
